Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. Over the years that I have been stamping and paper crafting, I have so often been inspired by the ideas on other sites and blogs. I hope I can pay that back in some measure with my own. (In between laughs -- or cackles as my son calls it!)

January 31, 2012

Tissue Background Thank You

This weekend, my lovely neighbors, Sandra and Tom, took me out for a retirement celebration dinner.  Sandra also gave me a small gift, which used lovely pink, and cream and black patterned, tissue as wrapping.  Well, you know me, I can never throw away pretty tissue paper!  I decided to use the tissue, and reprise the cream, black and pink color scheme, to make a thank you card.

First, I used Modge Podge to apply the crumpled tissue to card stock.  I also applied a coat of Modge Podge on top of the tissue, for sheen and durability.  After it dried, I trimmed it and matted it onto black.  This was then adhered to a pink card base.  I stamped a thank you greeting and punched and layered it.

I embellished with ivory lace, sheer black ribbon, and a sheer pink bow.  I think it turned out great.  Wonder if she'll recognize the background?  ;-)

Stamps:  Whimsical Words by Stampin' Up!
Inks:  SU! Basic Black
Paper:  SU! Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla
Accessories:  SU! Oval punch, Oval Scallop, 1/8 inch circle punch, SU! ribbons, lace unknown (from my stash)

January 29, 2012

Embroidered Flowers

Today I thought I'd share with you a simple little note card. It's small, roughly 3.5 x 5 inches. It uses a pretty image of flowers in a jar from the Sheena Douglas stamp line, A Little Bit Sketchy - Busy Doing Nothing.

This image was so sweet and unassuming, and it had a homespun feel with the glass jar and wildflowers. So after using my colored pencils, I carried that feeling along with some simple cross stitch embroidery. I matted it on a contrasting yellow card stock, punched a scallop border, added some tiny pearls, and it was done.

To do cross stitch or other embroidery stitches on cards, it really helps to pierce the holes first, using a template, awl and soft mat to keep the spacing even. Then, just sew like your mother taught you.

 
Here's a close up of the image and the stitching.

It's the perfect little card to use as a blank note, a quick thank you, or just to say hi. And the embroidery embellishment is flat -- so no extra postage. And that's a good thing, says this frugal crafter. ;-)

Be sure to visit the Crafter's Companion site to see more of Sheena Douglass' pretty designs.


January 27, 2012

Want to win $100?

Crafter's Companion is trying to increase their blog followers.  They'll be awarding a $100 gift certificate to the Crafter's Companion online store to a lucky new follower of their blog. This is easy and you only have to do two things.

1)  Go to the Crafter's Companion Offical Blog page.   Scroll down until you see  the "Followers" block on the right hand side. Click on the icon underneath "Join this site". This will bring up a page where you can join.
2)  After signing up send an e-mail to bindy@crafterscompanion.com. Tell Bindy :
I signed up to follow the Crafter's Companion blog and then tell her you found out on my blog (Marge Dady's Cacklin' Crafter).   You see, as a design team member I can win a prize too, for referring followers.

Thanks to you for signing up!  Your chances of winning are not bad -- and you get to see new ideas every day too.  What is there to lose?  Nothing! You have until February 29th to sign up. This give-away is for new followers and US residents only.

January 22, 2012

Kanji Success Card

Here is my third post for the Crafter's Companion design team.  I need to confess that I am almost embarrassed to post this. Not because I don't love how this card turned out -- I really do! But because of what you'll think of me. You see, my son calls me the "cacklin' crafter" because of the way the ladies laugh and giggle in my craft room. But I'm afraid that you might soon be calling me the "frugal crafter". You see, my first post used a recycled road map. My second post used a recycled bag from a store. And this post uses - well, it uses recycled gift wrap for the background.

But oh, what gorgeous and lush gift wrap it was, and I just couldn't resist. It seemed tailor-made for this Kanji image from Crafter's Companion. This card is just simple layers, with a black mat behind the gorgeous red and gold wrapping paper (blushes again). The bold focal image, Kanji 'Success' is offset by black and gold and cut with die cuts. Would it be wrong to tell you that the gold layer was the lining from a fancy Christmas card envelope that I received? Oh my, you'll never look at envelope linings in the same way again. That's all there is to the basic card!

Sometimes you just have to let the richness of the materials and the strong image carry the design.

I then embellished with a key in the lower right (the key to success, get it?). I added black floss and three tassels along the card's spine.

I really like it - simple but rich, and perfect for a high school or college graduate, or even a job promotion.

Hope you enjoyed the card, and are inspired to check your wrapping paper stash!

January 15, 2012

Mary Arden House Gift Box

Today I am thrilled to share with you this little gift box that I made with the gorgeous new Art-Kure images from Crafter's Companion. I chose the "Mary Arden House" image for this project.

I have many obsessions, and crafting is just one of them. Another is my love of jewelry. Which means, I have many empty jewelry boxes lying around. For this project, I repurposed one of them. First, I covered the top with this beautiful swirl black and white paper -- which was free, because it came from a store's paper bag that my purchase was packaged in! I used Modge Podge both as an adhesive and as a 'glaze' to give the surface sheen and act as a protectant. Isn't the Art-Kure line just stunning? In fact I thought that the image itself was so strong and beautiful, that I did very little coloring. I used two shades of yellow from the new Spectrum Noir alcohol based marker line to color the windows. I layered the image on green and then black, and then glued it to the lid top, again with Modge Podge, and again coating the top of the image. Then I added Tulip snow and glitter.
Finishing touches included a black ribbon, green bow, and a white rosette.The leaf punch is by Martha Stewart. And finally, I should say that my initial inclination was to cover the bottom of the green box. But in the end I left it - not only saving a step, but it really helps to pop the black and white image.So check your basement stash, use found objects, save pretty paper bags, and let the strong images carry the project! Free is good, right?

Check the Crafter's Companion blog for more fun ideas.

January 13, 2012

Pretty SU! Designs

At tonight's hostess club with SU! demo Jo Bengtsen, we made three very pretty cards.  Just wanted to quickly share them with you.

 Among the products used tonight was the new Apothecary Art set (on the Dream card); the sweet Fashionable Hearts Embosslits die (on the pink Hello card), and the Fresh Vintage set (free with Sale-a-Bration) on the You're in My Thoughts card. 

At Jo's house in Elmhurst, IL it is always a friendly group, nice treats, and absolutely fantastic designs!

January 8, 2012

Strawberry Kisses

Well, here we are, my first official post as a new member of the Crafter's Companion 2012 Design Team.

I wanted to share this Gorgeous image of a dog and his little suitcase, from the new Strawberry Kisses line.  For this cute image, I dusted off my colored pencils, which I'll confess I haven't been inspired to use for over a year.  Don't these images showcase your coloring to a tee?

This little pooch looked all set for a road trip - so I had the idea to use an old road map for the background. Once I started, I couldn't stop, so I'm sharing two variations on the travel theme with you today.  The trunk of my car is now short one Illinois road map, but hey, it was from 1989 anyway. 

I wanted one of these to be a Bon Voyage type of card -- so I took the words "Flower Power"  from the set with the adorable kitty in the flowerpot that you saw a few days ago from Tracy -- and cut out the letters for "explore".  Wait, no "x" in Flower Power you say?  Not to worry, take the stem from two of the "r's" and criss-cross them.  Nothing will stop a determined crafter!

You can see more great inspiration on this line of stamps, and other new releases, at the Crafter's Companion blog.   Hope you enjoyed these, and perhaps you'll be off on a hunt for crafting supplies in your own car, soon!

January 3, 2012

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

OK, OK...so I am late for the western new year, and too early for Chinese new year.  But, I did want to show you these bookmarks that I made for my book club.

 The charms on each represent the sign of the Chinese zodiac for each lady (dog, dragon, rabbit, rat, rooster, etc.).  My good friend Leona took me down to Chicago's Chinatown back in November for a special Dim Sum meal for my birthday.  While there, we looked in just about every little store for these charms.  They are designed to be cell phone charms.  But I think they make these book marks unique!

The Asian background is by SU!, as are the monogram initials.  The script embossing folder is by Cuttlebug.  I used SU! cardstock.  The circle, scallop and square punches are also by SU!